Now the dust has settled on the first ever Divas Main Event match on a WWE PPV and I can’t help but realize the #DivasRevolution is still yet to happen, and WWE appear to have not killed the momentum they had as oppose to build up on it since.
I don’t want to get all prep school on you, and go into the definitions of a Revolution… however you can only weigh up the success of a movement by how it defines itself and sadly, the #DivasRevolution has been an epic failure.
When Stephanie McMahon announced the promotion of three NXT Divas, three of the best women wrestlers I have ever laid eyes on, we were all excited. We were all thinking, “at long last…they are going to do it: they are going to give these women a fantastic chance.” And they did. Sort of. They decided to group them for no reason whatsoever. Maybe its because they wanted to hedge their bets and make them stand out more, but with stupid names like; PCB, Team BAD and Team Bella they certainly did that negatively. There was no logic as to why these women had been put together into teams. It was just an excuse to get them on TV because WWE were too scared to give all nine of them singles competition themselves week in and week out across their programming. Yet I can’t help but feel had they have done that then the #DivasRevolution would have been in a far stronger place – because we all would have been forced to appreciate the work they were producing as oppose to just being confused by these mishmash groups of oddness. This is the Revolution we were all waiting for. We wanted WWE to actually give these Diva’s a fair billing. Give them two or three matches every Monday Night Raw and actually allow the division to exist on its own working its own programs, and building its own Championship. this would have not only actually shown that the Revolution has taken place, but it also would have taken a little bit of pressure off of the creative departments trying to build the main heavyweight storylines – which we can all agree is at a massive low, a view point backed up by current Raw ratings.
This grouping of the Divas has meant that no Diva has been given the time they deserve. Becky Lynch has been one of the biggest afterthoughts of this whole movement. When she lost to Sasha Banks at NXT Pittsburgh I was in awe of her ability. It was the best Women’s Match I had watched in a long long time. Becky Lynch announced herself as a true women’s wrestler and a person capable of doing some great things in the ring. It actually helped her achieve her promotion to the main roster, but what was the point when she has been given no push, no story or any matches of any note?
Essentially, the #DivasRevolution was a ploy to delay a little bit of time to give Nikki Bella the Divas record and that’s the issue. WWE didn’t actually want Womens Wrestling to come first, they wanted to gain some storyline time becasue they knew that Nikki Bella and the current Womens roster didn’t have the longevity. Which is why now, two months or so on from the #DivasRevolution we are back to square one. Yes, they changed the belt to Charlotte, once the record had been taken away from AJ Lee, but that one act doesn’t mean a whole revolution has taken place. Not only that, they are now making the Diva’s Championship look very weak by giving Nikki wins against Charlotte once again. It’s booking that just doesn’t make sense. I am sure that Charlotte will retain at Hell in a Cell and therefore with this Division they have now hit rock bottom. They are 50/50 booking – which every booker in the business will tell you: “It spells trouble”
The storylines are back to their usual tricks of “You said this!” and “I did that” and the women have once again been reduced to catfights, hair pulling and whinging – all of the hard work the women have put in at NXT, the changing of the tide and the respect they have has now failed to transfer to the main roster – and it’s not their fault. One of the most telling moments of this whole #DivasRevolution was compounded by Sasha Banks saying that she did not want to leave NXT for the main roster. She must have known that NXT is a promotion that repsects and gives their female talent a real chance, the main roster just doesn’t. Yet.
Stephanie McMahon (who helps run WWE Creative) was supposed to be sending a huge message to the WWE writers: we want these people to wrestle. That is what they are good at. That is how they made their name, and they are a generation built on this philosophy. Not built on reality shows and personal appearances. Let’s not reduce them to this.
A revolution in wrestling is defined by a changing of the guard. An overthrow, a complete change in thought and process, a new beginning with new horizons. I suppose only time will tell whether the #DivasRevolution actually becomes more solidified, but looking at Monday Night Raw from the last few weeks you can safely say that the revolution has categorically not happened as it only lasted a month or two.
